- Pray for us as we adjust to a new home and to new job and school situations.
- Pray for the new work we are entering into in the Central African Republic, that we will touch the lives of the people and bring glory to God.
- Pray that Karl will continue to make new friends, and be a good Christian witness to all he encounters. That his own faith grows stronger. That he won't be too lonely for the rest of us.
- Pray for Erik and Christina as they make new friends and begin their studies here.
- Pray for Erik and Kristina, that they will not miss Karl too much, and that they will have patience with me when the weeks get long.
- Pray for Congo and our dear Christian friends, and the leaders that struggle in so many ways. Pray that peace will return to that troubled nation.
- Give wisdom to our Congolese Church leaders.
- For the political situation both in Congo and in Central African Republic.
- For Karen Benson, Barb Boca, and us, as we begin work in Central African Republic with the United Brethren.
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Dear Friends,
We left Yaounde on Friday morning and drove for 12 hours. Most of this road was a good paved road but the traffic was not the kind we like to drive with. There were over 50 huge lumber trucks carrying uncut logs and they drove faster then we did and did not like to move over. So off and on we were moving off to the side of the road. We had no trouble but saw 7 different trucks, either lumber or other transport trucks, turned over. Actually, the last part of the day it rained, so the big trucks were not allowed to drive over the dirt roads and we were able to drive without the worry of meeting up with the large trucks. We ate with a Swiss/German family, slept at a Catholic Mission that had clean rooms (no screens so we slept with the windows closed in order to keep bugs and other night animals out). We then had breakfast with the same family and left about 8am.
We didn’t bother to leave too early since it continued to rain off and on all night which really was a mixed blessing. The roads were dirt, actually muddy, so we had to drive slower but it kept all the large trucks off the road. We didn’t start meeting trucks until after noon when the rain barriers were opened again. Finally, we reached the Cameroon boarder about 1pm and all the government officials were off to their homes for their rest time. They were to be back at 2:30, but it was more like 3:30. It was raining so we sat on a nice cement porch of a small restaurant across from the immigration and customs offices. We had a simple, good meal of typical Cameroon food. Erik and Colin, the Cones’ 6 year old boy found all the ways to get muddy while playing on the porch. It was a good break for them. By the time we finished with the officials, we were racing to get to the Central African town where they had their customs and immigration office. In this country even small trucks can not drive on the roads during the rain and up to four hours after a rain if the individual villages wish. It does help save the roads, but caused us problems.
For some reason (God's gracious intervention) we were able to pass through the barriers and into town with no problem, but by the time we had visited four different government offices, all needing the same information, the roads were closed so we stayed over night at a beautiful Swedish Mission that we knew was in town. We had hoped to drive another couple of hours to another Swedish mission where we know one of the families quite well. The guest house was great, and we had enough food so it was a nice restful evening. Since the rain continued all night and didn’t stop until about 6am we could not leave there until about 8 when the roads were open. We drove to the other Swedish mission, visited, had lunch, the kids played and waited for the rain barriers so open so we could continue on.
We arrived to Yaloke, the Brethren station where most of the Brethren live at about 12am. It was about 1:30 before getting to bed. We all tried to sleep in, divided our truck load of boxes, trunks and grocery items, and packed our separate trucks..Paul, hadn’t been back to Bossangoa before he came to get us so he had all the trunks here that I had sent with Barb Boca, and Jim Hocking. We decided to stay for dinner so that we could visit with all the missionaries, look around this station, and give Erik and Kristina a chance to get to know the children here. It was a good morning, but about noon rain started again, and instead of taking a chance at getting stuck overnight in a village along the way, or arriving in the middle of the night due to sitting at a rain barrier we decided to stay and leave first thing the next morning. We took a good nap , and enjoyed a evening of visiting again. Erik and Kristina are fast asleep and Paul is reading. Since, we won’t get to Bangui until about Dec 10th or so I wanted to try and get some e-mail written tonight to be sent to Bangui with Thelma Landrud later this week. So I don’t know when you all will get this but sooner or later you will.
Our trip here was a fun, but stressful one. We were praying and praising God the whole way. Kristina was in tears of few times-scared that the big trucks weren’t going to move over enough. It was somewhat nerve racking at times but I knew in my heart that God wanted us in Bossangoa so I never felt we were going to have trouble other then delays. I praise God for all of you that were praying for us as we traveled along the roads. We have between three and four hours drive tomorrow. The first hour and half is on good paved roads, but the last in dirt roads, better than Congo, but not great. If it doesn’t rain we will be in Bossangoa by noon, and will have fun seeing the house, meeting our new friends, co workers, monkey, and cat. both Kristina and Erik are excited. It will be a big change for us since we are used to living on a mission station surrounded by other missionary and friends all there to do God’s work. We spend hours together each day. Here, there is only one other missionary couple in town now and the wife has returned to Great Britain to see here father who is in the hospital and her husband travels out of town off and on. The other couple, SIL (Wycliff translators) from Switzerland just went to Europe to have a baby and won’t get back until Feb. So pray for me, all of us as we really will be needing to be sensitive to each others needs, and learn the language so that we can have good fellowship with the Africans around us. We will be here for only two weeks , then Paul will go to Australia and we will come back here to Yaloke and live with Barb Boca until Paul’s return.
Now, I am excited about getting to our new home tomorrow and will write you all about it as soon as I can. Our time with Karl was great. Short but good. I needed to see for myself how he was doing, where he was living and I am thankful that I did. Erik cried himself to sleep the first night, the last night we saw Karl, Friday night. When Paul and Karl left in August he hadn’t realized how long two months were going to be and this time he did. He misses him as we all do but we’re back in our routine and think and pray for him off and on all day. We will see him on Dec. 17th when he flies home for Christmas. I need to go but wanted to let you all know that we are safe and sound. Thanks again for your prayers. Please pass along this letter to everyone. Lots of love and prayers to each one of you. Love Sheryl and All
Hi, it’s me again. It is now Tuesday night the 28th of Oct. and I am sitting in Kristina’s new room typing this addition to our e-mail. Paul is going to drive back to Yaloke to get the rest of our things tomorrow so I want to get this finished. I couldn’t finish it last night because I hadn’t unpacked my disk thing. I need to do this quickly since my battery is almost out. We still need to unpack the inverter before I can use this with the 12volt battery. If it isn’t with the things I already have here then I will need to wait until Paul is back with the rest of our things. Just so you know our ride here was fine. The roads were open the whole way. The first 90 Km are on pavement and the rest pretty good dirt roads. It took about 3 1/2 hours. The yard is huge and Erik has already tried out the trees. The sad thing was that the little monkey had disappeared after Paul left so Kristina was sad about that, however the cat was happy for her attention. The house has three large bedrooms, with big closets. The bathroom is huge compared to our one in Cadillac and the one at Loko. The kitchen is small but will be fine once I have all the cupboards emptied and the cockroaches cleaned out. The little guest house has a great office that we will use as a school room. Since I need to close I will save the rest about the house and people until next time. We are happy to be home!! Miss you all and love to you all.
Sheryl
Thanks in advance for your prayers, Paul and Sheryl
"KRISTINA'S PAGE"
"ERIC'S PAGE"
Past newsletters and information from the Noren Family
Revised November 6, 1997
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